30 Day Writing Challenge: Assassin's Creed
by BleedingDeath
Summary: A 30 chapter fiction based off a one word a day writing challenge. It is a collection of stories that will more than likely not be continuous. May contain slash and AUs.
1. Beginning

Beginning

It all started when he was a young boy. He honestly couldn't remember what had happened to his parents or how he ended up where he did. Had they taken him by force? Or had he been left there as a new born? All he could ever remember was being a part of the Brotherhood.

They would teach him the history of their land, the ways of the Brotherhood, how to steal, how to fight and kill. They were all taught the ways of the assassins. When it came to his studies he often found himself staring out the castle window absent-minded. It was too hard to focus on boring facts and figures and philosophy when he could be outside learning how to fight, to survive. To him, there was nothing better than a weapon in hand.

Rauf, who had to be at least 10 years older than himself, was often training just outside the castle with one of the older assassin's. Either that or he was helping to train the younger ones, he really had a talent for that it seemed. He didn't really know the other assassin's in training, not being one much for socializing. On occasion he would talk to a dark haired boy, about his age, named Malik. He had a younger brother, Kadar. Malik was a tad bit hot tempered and also didn't seem to really like anyone except for his brother, whom he protected like a hawk.

They would often fight about the smallest things, other times nothing at all. Over time they became as close as brothers and Malik would help teach him his studies and how to write properly. If it weren't for him his writing would be completely illegible instead of just barely readable. As they grew older they only became closer. They were able to tell what the other was thinking just by how they looked.

He had quickly climbed the ranks, Malik close behind, Kadar a novice. Even though Malik was close, he was the favorite of their Grand Master, Al-Mualim. The Master meant a great deal to him. He was almost like a father.

But everything changed after he, Malik, and Kadar went to Solomon's Temple. He had killed an innocent man, attacked Robert de Sablé without a thought of the consequences that could happen, and because of that, he had caused much pain, Malik had lost his arm defending himself and Kadar had died, all because of him. But what may have been worse of all was that he could not even see his ignorance at the time and he had thought he was right in all his ways. He still remembered that day. After he had gotten out of the temple, not even with the treasure he had come for, he returned to Masyaf to see Al-Mualim. The Master had been greatly disappointed in him, especially when Malik had appeared, bloody armed and treasure in hand. He will never forget seeing his brother injured.

Their friendship was never the same after that. Malik was no longer fit to be an assassin and was trained to become a bureau leader. He was later sent to Jerusalem. He refused to forgive him, but he did not want to be forgiven. Why should he be? He owed Malik so much and had taken everything important away from him, being hated and unwanted was suitable punishment, though not harsh enough.

That was not the only result of his brash actions however. Because of his lack of judgment he was deemed a novice once more. At the time it had been humiliating. No one really wanted to be around him after what he did. Rauf was still there for him though. He honestly didn't think the man wasn't ever unkind. He would often ask if he could help show his students to properly wield a blade. He would generally accept the task to take a break from the missions he was sent on, fighting was the best way to take a break.

So much had happened over the years, things used to be much more simple. He hoped that one day, perhaps, things would change again. A day where he killed Robert, was no longer considered a novice, and to where Malik could find it in his heart to forgive him. He feared that day may never come, even if he had been closer to finding Robert. There were odd things going on, unexplained words of which he wasn't sure to believe. He could not tell anyone unless he was absolutely certain. Until then he would continue to do as he was told for he knew no better.

He opened his eyes slowly, greeted by the now dark walls inside of the Jerusalem bureau. Malik had just finished re-organizing the bookshelf and was working on a map of the city. It took much precision to ink out the map the way he did, and a steady hand. He couldn't help but think that Malik was a bit restless though, being inside almost all day, but maybe he liked it. He was lucky he was even let in this late at night. Malik had told him to get out of his bureau, and he almost had, but the day had made him tired and he needed to rest, so he had told Malik he would leave before he was up in the morning. He agreed to it so long as he would be quiet.

He let out a soft weary sigh and lay down so he could finally get some rest instead of reminiscing about the past and how it no longer was.

"Altaïr, I told you to be quiet, if you cannot do so, get out." Malik scolded him with a glare from behind the counter.

"Yes, Malik." He closed his eyes. His heart was aching, but he would never let that show. He would keep his emotions tied down and in control. Not even Malik could know what he was thinking anymore.

_I never meant to hurt you like this, to take everything you had..._

_Please forgive me Malik..._


	2. Accusation

Accusation

"Altaïr!" Malik shouted looking under the bed for what he was missing. He could have sworn he left it on the bed. "Altaïr!" he shouted once again, standing up in frustration. He heard some mumbling as Altaïr shuffled down the hallway and into the bedroom. He was wearing his white hoodie and dark jeans. He actually looked like he had just woken up.

"Did you just wake up?" he asked almost in disbelief.

"No..." His brows furrowed as he tried his best to stifle a yawn. He was tired from the night before as he had been waiting for Malik to finish his essay, which he had almost finished, but had stopped once it turned four in the morning. He had fallen asleep at three, while keeping the hopes that he and Malik would actually be able to spend some quality time together. But they didn't.

"What did you do with it?" He narrowed his eyes trying to pick apart the white hooded man's expression, but only saw tiredness. He knew he had to have done something with it.

"Malik, I don't even know what you're talking about... What are you looking for?"

"My laptop."

"I haven't seen it since last night."

"Are you sure?" He was still skeptical, now crossing his arms.

"Yeah, I fell asleep, remember?"

"Oh, right." He sighed briefly. Where could he have put it? Then a thought occurred to him. "Altaïr, didn't you want something last night?" He remembered he had come into their room at about one in the morning and has asked if he was busy, which, of course, he had been.

"Well actually—"

"Hold that thought." Malik quickly went off into the small living room of their apartment. Maybe he brought it there last night in some half-asleep state. He searched on the couch, under the couch, it wasn't on the coffee table, it wasn't under it either. He was either losing his mind, which was highly unlikely, or Altaïr was lying to him, the latter of which was much more likely. "Altaïr, come out here, now." He felt like yelling at the imbecile.

He came into the room slower than before, as if knowing he was in trouble. His bare feet padding across the wood softly. "Yes?"

Malik smiled and wrapped his arms around his boyfriend's neck. He slowly ran his fingers up into his short dark brown hair. Even if he was infuriating at times he loved him very much. "Altaïr...?"

"Hm?" His gaze flicked up to Malik's dark brown eyes, momentarily distracted by his lover's touch.

"What did you do with my laptop?" he asked, the gentle expression still on his face.

"I..." It was probably better to tell him anyway, so Malik wouldn't hit him for not telling him, or worse, making him have a late essay. He was always so punctual. "It's under my pillow..."

"Really?" He was genuinely surprised. It was such a simple spot to hide something he hadn't even bothered to check there.

"Yeah, come on." He lead him back into the bedroom and flung his pillow haphazardly onto Malik's side of the bed. The black laptop was there, completely unharmed. Malik went over to it and returned it to its rightful spot on his desk.

He thought about finishing his essay, but then asked, "Why did you take it?"

After a momentary pause, he answered. "I was hoping I'd be able to spend some time with you... You've been so busy lately," he said quietly feeling suddenly a bit shy.

Malik smiled. He had been busy lately. Finals were coming up soon and he was pretty stressed about it. "So... you missed me?"

He nodded.

"Well why didn't you just say so?" He stepped closer to him once again.

"Because you were working and you always tell me to stay quiet and not disturb you. That, and you'd either hit me, or threaten future harm to me."

Mailk laughed. He knew that was all too true. And then he got an idea. "Hey... Altaïr?" He leaned close to him.

"Hm?" His golden brown eyes looked down at him, arms wrapping around his waist.

"I think... today would be a good day to take a break from school work... don't you?" he smirked.

"Mm.. ye—" He was cut off when Malik pushed him down onto the bed and immediately straddled him. "Well hi there." He smiled.

"Hey." He leaned down and kissed his lips softly. His fingers ran through his hair, trailing down the side of his face, and down his neck. He kissed down along his jawline, gently nipping. He could hear a content sigh from the man below him.

"Malik..." he moaned softly as Malik's hands wandered away from his chest and down his body.

He decided then to shift, slightly lower, and kiss his stomach. With a pause between kisses, he unbuckled Altaïr's belt, and slid his pants down. He then resumed kissing, pulling at Altaïr's black boxers ever so slightly. He was going to tease the hell out of him. He could feel him shifting impatiently beneath him.

Making sure to grind against him, he shifted back up, and saw that he had closed his eyes. "You're not sleeping are you?" His lips brushed against his ear.

"No." He opened his eyes and smiled. Truth be told he was still tired, but he would not let that get in the way of what was happening now. They kissed passionately, tongues tangled in a brief hot mess before Malik pulled away, just to kiss straight down his throat, which earned him a groan of pleasure. "Are you trying to torture me?" He ran his fingers along the back of Malik's neck.

"Is it working?" he smirked trying to get the hoodie off.

He shrugged off the hoodie and it fell to the floor. "Yes, now come here." He pulled Malik close to him, capturing him in a flood of kisses. As he unclothed him he had a thought. He really needed to steal his laptop more often.


	3. Restless

Restless

He paced the halls of Masyaf Castle anxiously awaiting the news. This had happened before but he was no where near used to it. Being the Grand Master, yes, that was a major change to his life, yes, it took some time to adjust to, but that was so much easier than what was happening now. No, this was beyond stressful, and they wouldn't even let him in the room! He couldn't stand not knowing.

Of all the things, he really had never expected this one. That one night in Acre on top of the Citadel, it had been so reckless, but thrilling. Sometime afterward Maria had come to him with a smile lighting up her face, she told him she was pregnant. He couldn't have been a happier man. Well, he would be happier and very relieved when he knew all had gone well and both his child and wife were healthy.

He had tried to focus on his work, but he couldn't, he was too worried, and everyone in the Order knew. She had gone into labor sometime in the middle of the night, it was now afternoon. How long did this sort of thing take anyway? He couldn't recall how long it had taken with Darim. It couldn't be that much longer... could it? He sighed and looked out one of the large open windows.

Rauf was not outside training the novices, he was in the room with Maria, for moral support. Malik was doing Altaïr's work since he was seemingly incapable at the moment, which to his surprise, Malik didn't give the slightest bit of a hard time about. He wished that he were with him now though, to poke fun at him for being so ill at ease, to ease his mind. But the work to be done was far more important. Darim was being looked after by one of the scholars. He slumped down to the floor closing his eyes. He fell asleep almost immediately from being up all night.

Later in the day he heard footsteps approach him from a distance in the blackness of his still closed eyes.

"Altaïr, Altaïr, wake up."

He felt a hand on his shoulder and jumped out of his half asleep state. "Is Maria alright? The baby? They are safe aren't they?" He looked up at Rauf with a panicked expression.

He chuckled. "Yes, yes, they are both perfectly fine I can assure you. She told me to come and get you. Shall I take you to her?"

"Yes, please do."

They walked quickly to the room she was in, the evening glow of the sun falling behind the tall peaks of the mountains and casting an orange glow throughout the castle.

"She's right in there," Rauf said as he stopped in front of an old wooden door.

He nodded in thanks and went in. Laying on fresh cloth was Maria, sweat speckling her brow, eyes tired, but still as beautiful as she always was. In her arms was a small bundle and he smiled. Then she looked up and smiled at him.

"Altaïr, come, see." She was practically beaming with joy.

He walked over to her and sat down next to her and their baby. He couldn't stop smiling.

"It's a boy, what should we name him?" She looked at the baby and then to him.

He thought for a moment while looking at the boy and then answered, "Sef."

"Hmm... Sef? Yes, that is a good name." She paused a moment, her gaze still cast on him, he knew she had to be thinking of something. "Would you like to hold him?"

He cradled Sef in his arms all of his worry from the day vanishing as he looking down at the sleeping child. Altaïr ran his fingers over the soft dark brown hair in a loving manner. "He looks like you."

"He has your eyes, just wait until he gets older. And then Darim will have someone he can play with."

"And to train with, when they are both older."

"Yes, that too."

"You should go and bring Darim in, I'm sure he would like to meet his brother," she smiled as Sef was handed back to her and Altaïr stood.

He walked to the main room of the castle and went over to the bookshelves. One of the scholars was reading to Darim, his son listening intently.

"Darim, come, there's someone I would like you to meet."

The young boy hopped off of the scholars lap and quickly went over to his father. "Who is it?" he asked curiously as he was lifted up into Altaïr's arms.

"You will see." He kissed his son on the forehead and walked up the stairs, the sun now completely behind the mountains in the distance. The sky was turning deep blue tinged with purple.

"Where's Momma?" He rested his head on Altaïr's shoulder.

"We're going to see here right now." He opened the door, Maria was still holding Sef, but now he could hear small cooing noises, he was awake now.

"Momma!" Darim called cheerfully, squirming to get down from the arms holding him. Altaïr put him down and he ran over to his mother. Altaïr followed behind.

"Darim, this is your baby brother, Sef."

He smiled at his brother and waved at him a little.

Altaïr sat down next to Maria, wrapping an arm around her shoulder. This had to be the perfect moment of his life. His family was safe, the sun was set, the castle was in quiet peace, and he was with his loved ones. Darim snuggled between his father and mother, resting his head in her lap. Sef had fallen back into a light slumber. Maria looked as if she would fall asleep soon enough too.

"Maria?"

"Yes?" She turned to look at him.

"Have I told you how beautiful you are?"

She leaned her head on his shoulder, "And how beautiful am I?"

"More beautiful than the sunset that greets the night or the dawn that meets the day."

She looked up at him and they leaned close, kissing each other softly before she rested her head on his shoulder again.

"I love you," he whispered kissing her forehead.

"I love you too, "she smiled closing her eyes.


	4. Snowflake

Snowflake

Altaïr looked at the time, it was almost noon. I was Christmas Eve, Desmond was still sleeping and he was wondering what Malik was up to. He didn't know if Malik would even be home or if he decided to go with his parents to some resort for the holidays. He couldn't remember if he had said he was going or not. At the time he had been telling Desmond to put down something sharp and had only been half paying attention to the conversation. He flopped down on the couch and called him.

"Hello?"

"Hey babe, you home?"

"Of course I am, I told you I would be. Don't you remember anything Altaïr? Or has watching all those children's shows finally melted your brain?"

"Ha. Ha. Very funny Malik, I was distracted okay?! Des had something sharp and—"

"Altaïr, why are you calling?"

"I wanted to know if you wanted to come over for Christmas." He thought for sure he would say no, he didn't sound like he was in the best of moods.

"Sure, when can we come over?"

"Now?" He smiled.

"Mm okay, we'll be there shortly, I just need to get Kadar ready."

"I'll be waiting, see you soon." He hung up and went to wake Desmond. He was sleeping in Altaïr's bed, half hidden by the covers. "Des, you need to wake up, we're going to have company over." He sat on the edge of the bed waiting for him to move, but he didn't. "Des, c'mon."

"Five more minutes..." he mumbled turning his face into the pillow.

"Desmond. Now."

He rolled over to face his older brother. "Do I have to? Who's coming anyway?"

"Yes, you do have to, and Malik and Kadar are coming over. You've met Kadar before, haven't you?"

He nodded, but still didn't move.

"Desmond, you need to get up."

"No." He turned over to face away from Altaïr.

He gave a frustrated sigh and picked Desmond up out of bed.

"Hey! Put me down!"

"Only if you get dressed," he smirked hanging him upside down.

Desmond giggled. "Kay." Altaïr put him down and walked out of the room. He lay down on the couch, picking up the remote, and flipping through the channels while Desmond was getting dressed. After a few minutes Desmond came out and he was dressed, mostly. He was still wearing his red plaid pajama pants.

"Deeeeeeeees," he groaned. "Pants. Now."

"No." He crossed his arms and pouted.

Altaïr sighed and stood. "Des, you leave me no choice."

He froze for a second, eyes wide, and then bolted away from Altaïr. And thus the chase began. They must have been running around for at least 15 minutes when there was a knock on the door. "Coming!" Altaïr shouted almost tripping over his brother. He managed to keep his balance by ungracefully holding onto the door knob. "Hey Malik."

"Hey," he smiled, in seemingly better spirits than earlier. Kadar was behind his leg peeking out to just see Altaïr.

Altaïr wrapped his arms around his waist and kissed him slowly.

"Ewwww... cooties!"

Malik and Altaïr laughed at Desmond.

"Yes, yes, and they're all mine."

Desmond stuck his tongue out and went to go sit on the couch.

"Go and join him Kadar, we'll be there in a minute."

Kadar nodded and sat next to Desmond.

"Did you have trouble getting Desmond dressed again?"

"No... well, yeah... a little."

Malik just smirked and walked in to join the boys, he knew he was thinking of some snarky remark. Sometimes he had wondered why he had fallen in love with someone so sarcastic.

"You guys want to watch a movie?"

"Yeah!" the boys exclaimed.

"Okay, how about..." He looked through the shelf of DVDs by the TV. "Rudolph?"

Once again Desmond and Kadar agreed eagerly, so he popped it in and then sat next to Malik, putting his arm around his shoulder. Truth be told it was one of his favorite movies too which was why he and Desmond always watched it every year. It was nice to finally not spend Christmas just by themselves though after what had happened to their parents. Desmond asked about them sometimes, but he didn't have the heart to tell him the truth about what happened, so he just said that they weren't around very much. When they had died he had still been little so he couldn't remember them, but then that may not have been that bad.

After the movie had ended the boys became very fidgety so they decided to step out for a bit and head to the park. Altaïr had finally managed to get his brother into actual pants before leaving. The winter air was cold and crisp; the sky a grey-blue. Altaïr and Malik walked behind the boys, who were pretending to be dragons every time they let out a puff of air, as to keep an eye on them. He could swear Malik rarely ever took his eyes off his brother, he was very protective over him.

They headed toward the park, which unfortunately, had no snow. It hadn't snowed in their area since Altaïr was a boy. While the boys played hide and seek with each other, Altaïr and Malik sat on a park bench. Malik didn't really do well in the cold despite the winter coat. He was shivering. Altaïr pulled him close as they watched the kids play.

As the day went on the sun began to set in the sky and it was time for them to go back home. Once they were back in the apartment they all cocooned in blankets in an attempt to regain the warmth that they had lost while spending too much time outside. Altaïr also decided to order pizza, since he couldn't cook, and he certainly didn't want Malik to cook since he was a guest.

After they had eaten, they stayed up for a while longer watching more holiday movies and trying to get the boys to go to bed, which was almost impossible since tomorrow was Christmas. However, since they had spent much of their time running around, they fell asleep by 10. Malik put a blanket over them as they slept on the couch and headed off to bed with Altaïr. It was nice being able to cuddle up in bed after a cold day. They both fell asleep shortly.

"Altaïr! Altaïr! Wake up! It's Christmas! It's Christmas!" Desmond shouted jumping onto the bed.

Kadar jumped up on the other side of the bed trying to wake his brother.

"Deees... not so loud... What time is it?" Altaïr rubbed his bleary eyes.

"It's nine! C'mon, c'mon, wake uuuup!"

"Okay, okay, gimme a sec..." Altaïr stretched in bed and shoved at Malik to get up. He mumbled something that almost sounded like a curse. The kids ran out of the room with Altaïr taking his time to catch up. They had way too much energy in the morning. The morning in fact passed with much laughter as gifts were opened. Altaïr had brought the presents out while the boys had been sleeping, and had something for Malik and Kadar, which he had planned on giving them when he saw them next since at the time he had thought they were going to the resort.

Desmond sat with Kadar playing Pokemon, while Altaïr and Malik played Halo. Malik had made them breakfast despite Altaïr's protesting. Later in the day they had lunch A.K.A left over pizza, but no one minded. Once it was evening they headed to the diner that they always went to on Christmas. Malik had given a slightly confused look and asked why, to which Altaïr had replied "Tradition." So they all put on their coats and left.

When they got there, they sat down at a booth and ordered. This was one of the few times Altaïr would let Desmond order what ever he wanted, within reason of course. They all ended up ordering apple pie because, well, why not? As Altaïr was absorbed in pie, as well as Malik and Kadar because that pie was just about the best pie around, Desmond was staring out one of the diner's many long windows.

"Altaïr what's that?" Desmond asked pointing outside.

"What's what?" He turned around to see where Desmond was pointing. It was snowing. It was actually snowing in a city where it had only snowed once as far as Altaïr knew. "Hey, Malik, Malik, look." He tapped Malik's shoulder.

"What is..." he trailed off almost dropping his fork as he looked out the window at the steadily falling snow.

"Altaïr?"

"Huh? Oh, umm, that's snow Des," he answered shaking his head back into reality. It had been such a long time since he had actually seen it.

Desmond practically jumped out of his seat. "Can we go out?" He smiled widely.

"Hmm... What do you think Malik, should we go?"

"Might as well, it is their first snow and we don't know how long it's going to last." He tried to keep a straight face, but Altaïr could tell he was excited too. So they waited for the waitress to come back over to them and they paid and left. Desmond wanted to play right outside the diner, but Altaïr managed to convince him to wait until they got back to the apartment.

Once they were home the snow had completely covered the ground. Desmond and Kadar began to make snowballs while Malik and Altaïr stood at the entrance of the building. Mistletoe hung above the door and he smirked at Malik.

"What are y—" A small grunt of pleasure escaped his mouth as Altaïr kissed him passionately. As they parted slowly two snowballs came and hit them on the side of the face. Kadar pointed at Desmond, and Desmond at Kadar, but the guys grinned and began a slow approach. It was on.

* * *

Ugh, sorry this took so long! It was due to laziness and holidays.. writer's block. I wanted to mention that while I obviously didn't manage to do the challenge in 30 days, I'm still going to finish it! Also, thank you to for the comments, I really appreciate them! Happy New Year everyone!


	5. Haze

Haze

He kicked the guard in the back of his legs, crippling him to the ground. With one fluid movement he slit their throat and turned around to face the other guard charging him. As he was preparing to strike he staggered backwards and the guard shoved him into a wall on top of the building. He tried to block the guard's sword, but didn't recover in time as the blade pierced his shoulder. However, he was now with in striking range, and Altaïr struck him in the side of the neck with his hidden blade. He fell to the ground.

Sighing heavily, he slouched down onto the ground exhausted. It was too damn hot and now he was bleeding to top it all off. What a great way to spend the afternoon. He struggled back up to his feet, vision blurring. Getting to the bureau would be best. Malik would patch him up, he could rest, and then leave the next day; or during the night if he felt like it. He looked off into the distance, it would only take a few minutes to get there, but it seemed so far away.

The few minutes he knew it would take turned into longer as he tripped and stumbled across the rooftops almost falling down to the streets below on occasion. He did, however, make it to the top of the bureau roof, at least he thought it was, but he wasn't completely sure anymore. His ears were ringing and vision fading fast. The last thing he remembered was calling out for Malik.

Everything was black. But he could hear something. Something far away, like in a dream. It was a hushed muttering, not harsh or gentle, but worried. He whispered a name, though it sounded foreign to him as it left his lips. There was more mumbling, something that sounded along the lines of "I'm here" and something cool across his head. He opened his eyes slowly, becoming more conscious.

As he looked up he saw a familiar face, it was Malik. His face was stern as it always was, but something seemed... off.

"You are such a novice..." he muttered softly.

"Malik... What happened?" he croaked.

"You have heatstroke." There was a sound of water and then a cool cloth sweeping across his forehead. Then the process repeated as the cloth was eventually patted across his body, only then to come back up to his head. Malik was being unusually gentle, he was only like this when things were serious.

"Oh," he whispered, coming to the realization that this _was _serious.

"Is something the matter Altaïr?"

"Hmm... no." He closed his eyes, the exhaustion completely setting in. The heat from his skin made it too uncomfortable to fall asleep so soon, but he lay there, head on a pillow, Malik beside him. Moments passed in near silence, nothing to be heard except for the water beside them and the fountain inside the bureau. After some time, Altaïr drifted to sleep.

"You could have died... you idiot." He would always push himself too hard and end up hurt. He had been that way since he could remember, always wanting to be the best, to prove himself. Malik was always there to help him, ever since they were children he had been patching him up. If he'd only stop being so reckless. He had already lost one brother, he couldn't lose another.

He watched as the bare sleeping Syrian slept peacefully below him. Reaching a hand down, he stroked his cheek. _What a fool. _He smiled softly and leaned down to kiss his forehead. Altaïr would never know just how much he meant to him. Even Malik wasn't sure just how much at times like this. The times where he might never come back, when a day could start out normal and then end in death. Though he supposed that death was a normal part of the Order, but not one that he was ever used to.

As the night wore on, he continued to tend to Altaïr. When the morning dawn began to break is when he nodded off to sleep. It was midday when Altaïr awoke. He sat up slowly, still feeling a bit light-headed from the day before. His clothes were in a pile near the door, Malik had clearly spared no time getting them off of him. He put everything back on, minus his weapons, and laid back down to rest, his hood shielding his eyes.

"Altaïr, you should come inside."

He opened his eyes and gazed up at Malik hovering over him. He groaned, but did as he was told, moving into the bureau and sitting on the cool tiled floor. Malik took his place behind the counter and took out a few scrolls and a pot of ink. Just as normal he resumed his work. Altaïr watched him for a few minutes bent over the scroll drawing lines and mapping out the city. "Malik?"

"Yes, Altaïr?"

"What am I supposed to do?" he asked fidgeting slightly.

"Sit still, be quiet, rest." He smirked, not bothering to look up from his map.

"You can't be serious. I can't just _rest_, Malik."

"Well, you're going to have to, you cannot go back out for a while in your condition."

"I do not have a condition," he replied hotly.

"Oh, yes, that's right, that's why I found you collapsed on the roof of my bureau."

"That was yesterday!" He stood up. There was no way in hell he was going to just sit around in the bureau for who knows how long.

"Altaïr, you will sit down, and you will be quiet."

The look he gave made Altaïr sit back down.

"You may leave by next week, perhaps sooner if you behave."

He leaned against the wall, staring at the floor. He thought about how Malik seemingly stayed up all night to watch over him and make sure he was safe, or at the very least didn't die. Maybe he cared more than he let on, but Altaïr was still sure he was hated. But it was those moments of uncertainty that made him question if that was true or not.

* * *

I'm so sorry this chapter took so long to get up. I've been busy with college and I had gotten stuck on this chapter for the longest time, but then I deleted it and rewrote the whole thing so now I'm happy with it -u-


End file.
